CRITIC REVIEWS

After claiming his place in the spotlight by overwhelming force with The Epic, Kamasi Washington capitalizes on both his newfound fame and his journeyman work ethic to produce a follow-up that’s more intimate and just as daring at the same time.

Heaven And Earth is shorter than his powerful, three-hour debut, but it might be even more ambitious, splitting its 16 tracks into a two-part concept album: the first reflecting the world as it is, the second depicting Washington’s optimistic vision of the world as it should be.

There are very few contemporary artists with both Washington’s talent and audacity of expression. The insistent vitality of this music, responding to a damaged world on the ‘Earth’ album and exploring the artist’s own view of our existence on the ‘Heaven’ set, should ensure those with genre anxiety are put at ease, while the purists are in for quite a journey.

There is a wealth of ideas on the table here. It takes a musician, composer, and arranger of Washington's caliber to take these ideas and form them into a brilliant collection of performances. Kamasi Washington is jazz music's brightest light – may he continue to burn for a long, long time.

He has again proved he's a bandleader with a steady hand and a fiercely curious artistry carrying forward the best of what jazz can be. His modernity is in keeping with great innovators like John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Sun Ra, and like them before him the more unconventional facets of his music help to keep the genre alive rather than indulging the dusty nostalgia and convention of traditionalists.

As with The Epic, Heaven & Earth not only exemplifies Washington’s ability as a saxophonist and band leader, but also the band he has assembled. Every member gets their chance to shine. By drawing from a broader sonic palette, Washington brings a tenderness and intimacy to their big, bold music.

For his sophomore release, Kamasi Washington goes above and beyond in his compositions while occasionally sticking too close to jazz mainstays. Though it plays to traditional concepts, the places that Washington takes the music is truly awe-inspiring.

In a decade of major black American LP statements to match the conscious soul and jazz golden age of forty years ago, Washington is, along with D’Angelo, the artist most steeped in that era’s rhythmically liquid language, and Heaven and Earth allows little let-up in slippery grooves and soulful uplift.

His second LP, a conceptual double album exploring earth (reality) and heaven (idealisation), is perhaps unlikely to sway the old guard, but it pushes forward with a purposeful vitality that was at times missing from his debut album, The Epic.

There are choirs and strings, rumbling low-end and even some dissonant synthesizer; and there are songs of jubilee and liberation, born equally of church traditions and civil rights marches. Everything’s writ large; it is music that contains multitudes, and it’s teeming with joy and power.

An edit of ‘Heaven And Earth’ that preserved, say, just the vocal tracks, would result in a masterpiece of coherence and retain Washington’s clear desire for heft. As it is, everything here might be fine delicacy, but together it’s too rich for all but the biggest appetites.

It strives for boldness and muscular imposition, and aims to stir, excite and inspire. If Washington’s music opens the door for new audiences to explore a wider range of improvised music, it is undoubtedly a positive thing.

His work might not be the best indicator of where jazz as a whole is headed – try the latest from Vijay Iyer or the recent debut from supergroup R+R=Now – but his vast, refreshingly lavish soundworld is well worth getting lost in.

Kamasi is to jazz as Joanna Newsome is to folk. Obviously talented and very, very, very ambitious but not everyone can get into it. Yet, somehow Kamasi makes chaotic tunes for a more modern crowd enjoyable. The album is always consistent and never lets up (even if you find it mediocre)This is NOT an album for the faint of heart. This is a two and a half hour long album with no breaks and requires multiple listens. Almost eight hours of your life will go into three listens. Regardless of what ... read more

Ok so like this album generally seems to retain the same level of quality & skill as The Epic, like it's all there, but this was just way more uninteresting to me than The Epic. It had some amazing moments of ecstatic bliss on songs like the opener, the last couple songs, Street Fighter Mas, the ending of Vi Lua Vi Sol & Tiffakonkae, but like ultimately there's really nothing that this album offers that you couldn't get on The Epic. I can't tell if it's a good or bad thing that it's ... read more

I was okay for the first hour or so, but I started to lose it about halfway through Vi Lua Vi Sol. I respect anyone who can finish this album and say they loved it. I'm impressed by this record, but it's not for me, and I was begging for it to be over by the end.

Yeah... I don’t know how much of this I can take in a single sitting. I always found Kamasi’s music really off putting. It’s personal preference. It just sounds really boring and I don’t think I can handle over 2 hours. 2 minutes in and I want to turn it off